Cautioned About Conflicts : Mrs. Quayle to Look for Job After Inauguration

WASHINGTON — Marilyn Quayle may break precedent for a vice president’s wife by hitting the job market while Dan Quayle is in office, an aide said today.

Marilyn Quayle, a lawyer, plans an active search a few months after the inauguration of President-elect Bush and Vice President-elect Dan Quayle on Jan. 20, an aide said.

A paying job in law, lobbying or a related field for Mrs. Quayle, 39, could raise serious appearances of conflicts of interest, according to Senate aides.

“As to both her job-hunting and her interests and causes--whatever she decides to do from a public standpoint--it will probably be this spring sometime,” said Quayle spokesman David Beckwith.

He said Marilyn Quayle is serious about getting a job, “but there are obvious constraints--you can’t be perceived as having a conflict of interest.”

Washington law jobs are lucrative, often paying into the high six figures.

Also today, aides said the Quayles are seeking $150,000 in private donations to refurbish the vice presidential mansion.

They said the Quayles wanted to give more room to their three children. President-elect Bush and his wife, Barbara, raised $187,000 in a similar manner for redoing the mansion in 1981.

Dan Quayle, 41, heir to a publishing fortune, resigned this month from the Senate, where he earned $89,500 a year. He will make $115,000 as vice president, have a paid staff of about 90 and will get a pay boost to $175,000 if a proposed pay increase clears Congress.